Luke Tamulevich (21 points, 10 rebounds) led the Panthers to a 71-54 home win on Tuesday night.

Greg Dudek, For The Patriot Ledger

WHITMAN – The doubts about the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys basketball team’s potential began to surface long before the Panthers even stepped onto the court this season.

Graduating eight players, including the entire starting five that won a Division 2 South Sectional title last year, will do that.

But the new core silenced the skeptics Tuesday night by clinching a postseason berth, which not many thought was possible, with a 71-54 Patriot League win over Scituate.

“Nobody gave this team a lot of chance going into the season,” said Whitman-Hanson coach Bob Rodgers. “People didn’t think we’d make the state tournament. With this win tonight we get there and it’s just such a tribute to (the senior captains’) leadership and how hard (the team) worked in the offseason.

“They heard the stories. Even when the season was going on last year, people would tell them, ‘You guys aren’t going to be very good next year.’ And they were just so committed.”

Senior guard Luke Tamulevich, who finished with a team-high 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds and five assists, played a huge role in making sure Whitman-Hanson (10-3, 8-2) came out on top.

Tamulevich came alive in the second half just as sophomore guard Aidan Sullivan caught fire for Scituate (10-5, 6-4).

Sullivan scored 12 of his game-high 29 points in the third, including knocking down three trifectas to pull the Sailors within a possession after trailing, 37-29, at halftime.

“I’m really happy for him,” Scituate coach Matt Poirier said of Sullivan. “He’s really worked hard to be a great teammate regardless of if the ball is going in or not. He had a great game. He doesn’t care about his points. We didn’t win, so he doesn’t care. Aidan’s a winner and Aidan plays to win every night.”

But every time Sullivan sank a 3-pointer, Tamulevich would come down the floor and get it back.

On two separate occasions midway through the third, Sullivan cut Scituate’s deficit to three on a trey, only to have the lead double in a matter of seconds with Tamulevich responding with a triple of his own.

“It was like, ‘Oh no, (Sullivan) hit it down that end,’” Rodgers said. “Then you come back and Luke just hit money shot after money shot. And when you have one of our other best players in foul trouble and you think, ‘How are we going to win without Nikko (Raftes) on the floor?’ Luke Tamulevich gave us that answer.”

Tamulevich’s second 3-pointer of the quarter sparked the Panthers, as Whitman-Hanson closed the stanza out on a 10-0 run that included five points from junior forward Bryan Tyrie (nine points) to take a commanding 54-41 advantage into the fourth quarter.

Whitman-Hanson cruised from there, but the Panthers seemed in trouble early when Scituate poured in 21 points in the opening eight minutes.

The Sailors shrugged off a slow start and junior guard Abel Lopes (six points) got to the basket with ease to get Scituate going. Then, Sullivan took over and drained a 3-pointer as time expired in the first quarter to give the Sailors a 21-20 edge after one.

But from that point on, Whitman-Hanson stymied Scituate’s offense, only allowing 33 points over the final three quarters.

“Defensively, the game didn’t start out very well for us,” Rodgers said. “We gave up more points in that first quarter than any other quarter this season. And then after that we locked down and played Whitman-Hanson defense.”